Getting Creativ

Yes people I can spell...but I am trying to be clever here, bear with me. Today I had to come to Toronto for work, so I took advantage of being in the big city and went to the Creativ Festival.

Here's the thing - I hale from Halifax Nova Scotia, population 300,000. I currently live in Ottawa Ontario, population 900,000. Today driving in Toronto I had to deal with 2.6 million people. OK, so maybe not all 2.6, but a friggin lot of them were in cars, in traffic. Bottom line of this little numbers lesson - I never want to permanently live in a big city, too many people.

                              these are all new buildings downtown to house ALL of the people...

But I did have a good time at the Festival. Of course, the best fun was buying some new fabric. Mad About Patchwork was there with all kinds of goodies...

I treated myself to a half-yard bundle of Bella by Lotta Jansdotter. If you have not seen this yet, you are going to want some... so pretty, clean and a little Swedish!

Also, could not help getting a couple (OK, maybe 13) FQs of Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee. Just plain lovely.

and... my dirty secret, I find it hard to leave a craft show without a piece of jewellery. I was trying to be strong this time, but I happened upon Dotti Potts Clay Design & Pottery and bought this adorable pendant. Cute right!?

So I am going to be away from the sewing machine for a whole week, but I was determined not to get behind on my postage stamp project. So while my hotel room usually looks like this...

                             Process mapping madness

This week it looks like this

                               Cutting station!

Here's to travelling quilt projects! What do you do with your projects when you are away from home, leave them home alone or take them with you?

Thanks for stopping by

Adrienne

W.I.P. Wednesday

You know what? There is a whole lot going on in the on-line modern quilting community. I find I have been spending more time looking at others blogs than I have been actually working on my own quilts. Enough I say! Time for me to get back into the swing of things. About all I have had time for lately is Bee Blocks, but I long for the feeling of a big finish!

So, I am making a commitment to you and ME to start bogging at least once a week. I definitely work better with a goal, so here we go! I have seen W.I.P. around a lot in my surfing. If you are like me, you did not immediately know that it stands for Work In Progress. What a better way to kick off my weekly update than with works in progress. Thanks to Lee at Freshly Pieced for coming up with the W.I.P. Wednesday gem.

After my Sunday Post, I looked at my scraps, and I looked at the HSTs and the scraps won! They were too delicious to pass up.

Once I had decided what fabric I wanted to use in my next project I spent way too much time thinking about a pattern. Let's Keep it simple - Postage Stamp it is. The best thing about a postage stamp? It will go together easy, and I can see all of those awesome fabrics in one place!

I don't think there is a wrong way to make a postage stamp quilt, but I did see a great tutorial at Red Pepper Quilts that seemed nifty. I think I might also try some quilt as you go in this project too, I'll keep you posted!(get it :)).

So tonight I started cutting....

For my bigger scraps, 2 x 7 strips with a plan for 16-patch strip pieced blocks with a random layout. I do have a lot of smaller scraps which will need to be trimmed to 2 inch square. I see a lot of cutting in my future.

For the fabric devotees like myself, in this pile of scraps you will find bits from: Lotus - Amy Butler &
Fresh Cut - Heather Bailey(which I am excited to hear is back in print).

Better get back to cutting. Thanks fro dropping by.
Adrienne

October...A fresh start?

So at least I am hear just a month late! My big project at work is starting to slow down, so I am finally home, having some quality time with my sewing machine (and my very own bed!). Being on London Ontario for the last four months has been a huge learning experience. But now I want to do some more learning with fabric and thread :)

So, after much turkey and all of the fixings I am at the machine today catting up on some unfinished projects and maybe starting a new one (cross your fingers!). 

So what did I catch up on you ask? Stash Bee Blocks!

A Wonky Log Cabin - this block was fun and easy to make. Even though I know this is meant to be a stash busting bee, I am always worried the fabrics that I pick will match with the other participants. But from the in progress picture below, it fit right in.

A Dresden - All I can say about this block is AGGRAVATION! I invested in a new Dresden ruler to make life easier, but after two tries I could not get the block to "close" without significant puckering. The worst part is that I am not sure what I was doing wrong. I ended up sending this block (such as it was), and a lot of extra fabric so that the hive leader for the month could make another...

A Flower - This is October's block and I am not going to lie, it freaked me out! Design a flower in my head and then make it! Crazy talk. But some exploring on flicker, I found some inspiration and off I went. It was very simple and I got a chance to play around with the applique stitches on my machine which was fun.

So, it's 3:30, plenty of time to put in another movie and start something new. I have a pile of scraps on my floor begging to be made into postage stamps, and I have some amazing fall color squares waiting for half square triangle time....what to do?

Come visit again to see who won!

Adrienne

The Missing Month (or two)

Wow! It would appear that I have not been here in two months. Yikes! No worries though, nothing wrong, Just working. While I am enjoying my newest project at work, it has meant a lot of travel away from home, and therefore away from the sewing machine. So very little quilting in July or August - in fact none :( It's funny, even though I have not been quilting, my project list has grown. Apparently when I cannot sew, I buy books and fabric. Dangerous!

So, tonight's entry is just a brief update, to say that I am indeed still alive, and thinking a lot about trying to find some time to get back to the stash. I don't know about you, but even though the temp outside still reads the other side of 30 degrees, the leaves are starting to tumble, and every once in awhile I feel a breath of fall air.

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Glorious colors, crisp blue sky, fresh breezes, and the longing to nest before winter creeps in. September is my New Year, and it is then that I like to set my goals. This year I have built my modern quilting library so the goal is to actually make projects out of them!

Recent books that have made it to my book stash that I am in completely in love with include:

Zakka Style
Free-Motion Quilting
Modern Patchwork
Block Party
Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration
Quilting Modern

I was almost ready to say goodnight when I remembered that I did do some sewing in July! Of Course The Stash Bee continues and the July Block was the disappearing nine-patch. This was a super fun and easy block to make.

A nine patch, two cuts, a couple of flips, sew it back together and voila!

Also from the Bee, I was super stoked to see my May Block as part of a whole quilt. I think it turned out great and I loved the use of the Bee Graphic on the label. I think I might do that as well when it is my turn.

 

Well I think I must get to bed. Tomorrow is Tuesday, but really "Monday", so that means a trip to the airport and a flight to London Ontario for the week (too bad it's not London England!). When I get home on Friday I need to catch up on Augusts Bee Block, which means I get to try out my new Dresden Ruler. Can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by

Adrienne

Mr Roosevelt's Necktie

One more thing I did tonight - it's Stash Bee time again this month. Evelyn from Mamabill Quilts gave us our pattern this month. It was for Mr. Roosevelt's Necktie. A simple block, great for summer sewing.

Cut six 3 1/2" colored squares and eight 3 1/2" light squares. The colored squares can be all one color or six different ones. Cut one 4" colored and one 4" light square. Cut each of these 4" squares on the diagonal. With a light and dark triangle right sides together, sew a 1/4" seam on the diagonal side. Repeat with remaining triangles. Press seams toward the colored triangles and trim blocks to 3 1/2". Sew squares together into four rows and press. Simple!

Thanks again for stopping by, I promise that's all for tonight.

Adrienne

Plus some 1930's

This past weekend was a quilting marathon . I have decided to make a move into a friend's house in just a month, so I was hot to finish a project that needs to be in the mail in August. The result of this fevered sewing was this

I have been keeping (ok maybe hoarding) a stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics for quite some time. Once I made a Triple Irish Chain with these fabrics which I totally loved, but since then was at a loss of how to take these retro small scale prints and make them read "modern".

I have seen a lot of this "plus" pattern lately and I thought this would make a great pattern to highlight the prints. So I did it! Baby size for an soon to come little boy, I am very happy with how this one turned out. I kept the quilting simple and used a sunny yellow backing.

The pattern is very simple. I used 5" blocks, but you could make the blocks whatever size you like just keep them all the same. Lay them out on your design wall (for me the floor..) into the plus pattern and sew together rows and columns.

When piecing this type of top, I use a chain-piecing method I picked up somewhere along the line, do all the columns and then the rows. Makes piecing the top very quick. Here all of the rows and done, waiting to do the columns.

I was so in the zone on Sunday that when I finished the binding I still wanted to do more! I took one look at my stained ironing board, and the leftover yellow backing fabric and the board got a makeover!

So it is time to start packing my stash and machine (and me beautiful ironing board) to get ready for the move. I am just moving to a new neighbourhood in Ottawa, so not a giant move, but of course the first thing to do will be to set up a place for me to sew!

Thank you for stopping by
Adrienne

Maritime Inspiration

This week I am having a holiday in the Maritimes. While I have been living in Ottawa for the last few years, Nova Scotia is my home. There is nothing like the salt air to get my inspiration pumping! I had the opportunity to visit one of the places that first inspired me to quilt, Suttles & Seawinds in Mahone Bay. Suttles has an extraordinary selection of gorgeous clothes and accessories, many locally made. But what drew me, was the Quilt Barn!

Inside this unassuming historic barn is a cache of fabric and beautiful quilts hung on every surface made by local quilters.



I remember seeing the "Canada" Quilt for the first time and thinking "I want to do this!"

Two full floors of quilts and fabric, it is hard not to hunker down at their cutting table and get to work.  Especially with their great selection of Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

While I was drooling over the Kaffe Fasset, I was also drawn (several times!), into a back corner filled with ocean themed rugs, pillows and fabric.

Obviously I was feeling very touristy, because usually this theme does not appeal. But I found the perfect fabric that screams for fussy cutting! Not sure what it will end up in yet, but I am sure I will find those lobsters and crabs a good home.

The best part of the day... my family! While my Dad was not as enthralled as we were about the fabric (he was guarding the parking lot while we shopped), my sister and mom also found lots of inspiration in the rafters.

In fact, I was surprised to hear my mom say "Adrienne I found the next quilt I would like you to make me" and when I looked up, it was a modern design!

This asymmetrical design is gorgeous and for once Mom and I are on the same page! So for sure, this is going on to the "to do" list.

A trip to Suttles never let's me down. It is a trip down my memory quilty lane, and I always come away with a piece (or twelve) of new fabric, and some inspiration for a new project (or ten!). Not to mention, on the way out I found these great chairs. Too bad I need to fly home, or these babies would have been snapped up!

Is there a place on your quilting journey that stands out for you?

Thanks for stopping by

Adrienne